Paul Pierce could come off the bench when he makes his return from his hand injury.

After returning to practice today, Pierce told reporters he’s willing to do anything to help the team win, including coming off the bench.

Jason Kidd told Newsday’s Rod Boone that Pierce worked with the second unit at practice to see how he fared with that group.

In his 1,117-game NBA career, Pierce has come off the bench just three times.

Jon Presser, Contributor

It’s a really interesting idea, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. There’s no doubt that Pierce has struggled in his first month as a Net, and maybe coming off the bench could give him the jumpstart he needs.

One of the reasons the Nets have struggled is that they haven’t been able to figure out an offensive identity. I think it’d be worth experimenting with Pierce coming off the bench and working with the second unit, where he’d have the ball in his hands and be able to take command of the unit, rather than play off the ball with the starters.

Splitting up Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce might be beneficial to both players. Both of them seem too similar to one another to play off each other, and letting them play in separate units could very well make the Nets offense more efficient overall.

When the Nets get healthy, they’ll have a deep rotation that should enable everybody to get ample playing time. If Pierce is willing to be a team player and come off the bench, I think it’s absolutely worth experimenting with that to see how it goes.